‘Documentary’ Archives
Destination Nowa Huta!
Kierunek - Nowa Huta! Poland, 1951, black and white, 12 minsWatching Destination Nowa Huta! for the first time, I felt a strong sense of déjà vu, as this is undoubtedly the film that inspired Andrzej Wajda's parody of an early 1950s Stalinist propaganda newsreel in his film Man of Marble (Człowiek z marmuru, 1977). That fake film's poster-boy [...]
The Life of an Agent
The Life of an Agent Az ügynök élete 2006, black and white, 82 mins Director: Gábor Zsigmond Papp Writer: Gábor Zsigmond Papp Script Editor: Miklós Tamási Camera: Balázs Dobóczi Editor: Szilárd Nagy Music: Szabolcs Molnár Narrators: János Kulka, Zoltán Rátóti Producer: Gábor Zsigmond Papp Production Company: Bologna [...]
Railway Junction
Węzeł Poland, 1961, black and white, 10 minsIn terms of conception and execution, Railway Junction is clearly part of the group that also includes the previous year's The Musicians and People on the Road. Once again, there's an abiding concern with presenting the lives of working people, though this time there's no distracting element of [...]
People on the Road
Ludzie w drodze Poland, 1960, black and white, 10 minsA companion-piece to Kazimierz Karabasz' The Musicians/Muzykanci (1960), and made at roughly the same time, People on the Road takes a similar approach to circus folk. Both films look at what happens between performances - in The Musicians' case, it's a band rehearsal, while People on the [...]
The Musicians
Muzykanci Poland, 1960, black and white, 9 minsWhen Sight & Sound magazine ran the fifth of its decennial critics' Top Ten polls of what was alleged to be the best films ever made, they extended the invitation to filmmakers for the first time. As one of the leading arthouse cinema lights at the time (1992) Krzystof Kieślowski's list came [...]
Day In Day Out
Jak co dzień... Poland, 1955, black and white, 12 minsMade as a Łódź Film School project, Day In Day Out, Kazimierz Karabasz' lyrical portrait of the daily morning journey of Warsaw's suburban commuters, has hardly dated at all: my fellow Londoners will find themselves nodding in recognition on numerous occasions, even if hanging onto the [...]